Unveiling the Secrets of Successful Analytics Projects with Dr. John Elder

Mining Your Own Business Podcast

Join us as we chat with our founder Dr. John Elder. In his decades of experience, he's witnessed the ebb and flow of numerous data analytics projects. And along the way he’s discovered keys to achieving success.
Key Takeaways
🔹 Why successful data analytics projects rely on teamwork, honesty, and perseverance
🔹 How Elder Research has approached challenges and helped organizations move from idea to implementation
🔹 The need to choose the right problems to work on as an organization
🔹 The impact of involving leaders in data-driven initiatives to achieve success
Quotes

💬 “It helps to have teams that are honest in their feedback … You see it as a wonderful thing if they find a flaw and save you time and help you solve the problem.”
💬 “Knowing the degree of accuracy and the cost of a mistake is so important anytime you address a new problem.”
💬 “A lot of times for us it's technology transfer. We'll solve a problem and then we'll teach the client how we did it.”
Featured in This Episode
John Elder, Founder, Elder Research
Dr. John Elder founded Elder Research, America’s largest and most experienced data science consultancy, in 1995. They’ve solved hundreds of challenges for commercial and government clients. Dr. Elder co-authored three books — on practical data mining, ensembles, and text mining — two of which won “book of the year” awards. John has created data mining tools, was a discoverer of ensemble methods, chairs international conferences, and is a popular workshop and keynote speaker.
Dr. Elder earned Engineering degrees from Rice and UVA, where he’s an Adjunct Professor. He was named by President Bush to serve 5 years on a panel to guide technology for national security. Lastly, John is grateful to be a follower of Christ and the father of five.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnelder4
Evan Wimpey, Director of Analytics Strategy, Elder Research
Company website: elderresearch.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/evan-wimpey

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:54 Factors that separate successful and unsuccessful analytics projects
02:31 How Elder Research has built project success over time
05:09 The importance of leadership involvement to achieve success in projects
07:14 John’s favorite projects
13:30 The need to follow up after a project is successfully completed
15:19 The growth and impact of generative AI
18:36 Reliability of analytic tools
19:54 John’s transition into a new role at Elder Research
21:02 The vital steps to problem-solving
22:33 How John’s early work in target shuffling was included in Dr. Eric Siegel’s “Predictive Analytics” book
25:05 John’s current interests, including advancement of his global search algorithm and investment modeling
29:43 Wrapping up

Find more show notes, transcripts, & more episodes at:
https://www.elderresearch.com/resource/podcasts/